Robert Rich
Illumination
CD / 7 tracks / 71.06 mins
Play Sample:   56K Dialup   Broadband
Download Sample:   500K   1.5Mb
(Excerpt from track(s) 'Curtain')
On 'Echo I' a shimmering metallic drone becomes awesomely deep. Turn up the volume and make the ground shake! Things then subside a little and become increasingly 'breezy' with the occasional gong sound adding just a hint of detail. This is beautifully relaxed stuff with a slight eerie edge. Vast choral sighing gets 'Prism' underway. It's all rather ethereal but also with something of a mournful quality. Really gorgeous stuff. 'Point Line Plan' returns us to deep bass rumblings with a bright contrasting tone shinning over the top. It's like being in some huge cave hearing something incredibly heavy being moved, rolled or pushed, from further below. From above light is shinning down. This brightness increases as the track progresses, like the sun getting higher in the sky but accompanying it is a sense of foreboding, as if what the light reveals is not always pleasant. The rumblings also become more intense only for everything to slowly subside. There is now the feeling of hearing waves crashing. Maybe our cave is by a shore. The overall intensity of the track ebbs and flows but gradually things are becoming calmer as each successive peak seems less threatening than the last. Even though the depth of bass is still there on 'Curtain', the atmosphere created this time is much more relaxed and peaceful. Really lovely meditative stuff.

'Plato's Cave' has an almost reverential feel as hushed half heard chatter nestles over deep warm drones, little sonic effects flying over the top like birds gliding from some high roost. Initially it seemed as if we were in some sacred space, voices being kept low in respect for the setting. Sometimes they can be heard amongst the soft sonic colouring more distinctly that at others but they are nearly always there. At fourteen minutes this is a relatively long track and as it goes on I found the 'chatter' a bit disturbing, as if it were trying to get into my head, delivering some sort of subliminal message. It gave me a bit of a shudder and I was quite relieved when 'Temple' arrived. A gong chimes out over misty dripping effects. The title of the track is probably leading my imagination but my mind brings up images of some Buddhist place of worship high up in tropical mountains. These images persist into the final track 'Echo II'. Little percussive tinkling effects that were also on the previous piece of music seem even more noticeable here, creating quite a dreamy atmosphere. The dream momentarily takes an unpleasant twist as more of the half heard vocal chatter from 'Plato's Cave' intrudes on our consciousness. This soon subsides however and a feeling of peacefulness returns once more.

When I gave this album it's first listen I wondered whether the title was supposed to be somewhat ironic as the music contained is for the most part incredibly dark. But then I think I got it. As the music is designed for a video 'Installation' taking different takes on 'Light' as its subject, the best setting both physically and aurally would be dark. So in that respect I am sure the music does provide a suitable backdrop through which the individual elements of the exhibit can shine. (DL)

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